[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 156 (Tuesday, October 16, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H11620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1945
         STALLED CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS AT KENNEDY SPACE CENTER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to say that some people 
in our Nation are taking notice of what is happening at the Kennedy 
Space Center with the stalled contract negotiations between USA 
Alliance, which is United Space Alliance, and the International 
Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, among the most 
talented and trained workers in our Nation.
  USA Space Alliance is a company that was formed from Boeing and 
Lockheed, major defense contractors for our Nation, which also have 
huge space contracts. Their executives are very well paid, and these 
are companies essential to our Nation's defense.
  But what is happening is that in these negotiations, strangely, the 
new demands that are being asked by these companies of the workers is 
that they have, the workers will have no pensions. Can you believe 
this, that workers who are involved in important NASA programs, 
particularly as we transition to Aries and Orion programs, that the 
conditions of work for people at the Kennedy Center will not be the 
same as they have been since we began the space program?
  NASA gets about $16 billion a year. Without question, the United 
States of America is the world leader in space exploration. And we are 
a leader because of the bravery of those who are involved in the work, 
as well as their intelligence and their fine workmanship and 
workwomanship.
  We shouldn't do anything to diminish this asset, this national asset, 
particularly when the Chinese are breathing down our necks and are able 
to hit targets in space already.
  And yet, what we see happening is that the workers and future workers 
that will be at NASA's subcontractors will not have pensions?
  This is very interesting, particularly because the individual running 
USA, United Space Alliance, Richard Covey, a very well-known American 
who's been an astronaut in many prior programs, gets about three 
retirement checks already, may be getting four.
  The first one is a public pension that comes from his work and his 
patriotism in the Air Force of our country. So he gets that check. He 
gets a government pension from his work in the NASA program. And he had 
been a part of Boeing Corporation prior to his movement over to USA, 
United Space Alliance, and he gets a retirement check from that plus 
all the stock bonuses.
  We have heard this before, that the people at the very top take 
enormous amounts? And the workers who are doing the actual work of 
retrieving the space launches, getting them ready are told, well, you 
won't get any retirement. What kind of attitude does that produce on 
the job in work that is truly dangerous, where lives are at stake, 
where America should seek the best and want the best and reward the 
best?
  I was thinking today of the Kennedy Space Center named after 
President John Kennedy, who did so very much to inspire the Nation to 
treat all people equally and to better themselves, would have this 
happening at the Kennedy Space Center.
  Defined benefit pension plans are the bedrock of retirement security, 
and over 40 million workers and retirees rely on them. And they give 
someone economic security to go to work every day and know that your 
life matters and that when it comes time for you to leave that position 
that you will have a retirement where you don't have economic worry. 
What is happening out at Kennedy now is a direct attack on Americans' 
retirement security. It sends a clear signal that this administration 
and its NASA administrator and all the subcontractors that it hires, 
including USA, support the elimination of secure guaranteed defined 
benefit pension plans, and for no workers, no pension plans. How's that 
for a deal? What are we going to do, go back to before 1940 again in 
this country?
  We built a great Nation when America had a system where workers could 
be confident that their wages would increase with increasing 
productivity and that their retirement years would be secure. I would 
just say that the Nation is taking very close notice of an agency that 
gets a $16 billion budget whose top executives all get their pensions 
and now who hire subcontractors who are telling the very people who 
have their hands on the equipment down at the Kennedy Space Center 
that, sorry, you don't get the same type of consideration by the 
Government of the United States.
  I would ask Mr. Covey and the folks at USA Space Alliance to pay 
close attention because Congress is paying close attention.

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